Saturday, October 07, 2006

Tigers Eliminate Yankees

I'm watching Kenny Rogers spray champagne on Tigers fans, and it's one of the coolest celebrations I've seen between an athlete and the fans. And it's so appropriate for this easy-to-like Tigers team, who dispatched the easy-to-hate Yankees team.

Schadenfreude is in FULL EFFECT.

After Kenny Rogers last night and Jeremy Bonderman in Game 4, I'm liking these Tigers more and more as the new incarnation of last year's White Sox, who rode four scintillating starting pitchers to a World Series title.

Meanwhile, what next for the Yankees?

Brian Cashman, fired?
Joe Torre, fired?
A-Rod, traded?
"Best lineup ever" (ha!), imploded?

Here's the thing that should have Yankees fans thinking: Their team got ROUTED. The last two games weren't even close, and that was with the supposed greatest lineup anyone has ever seen. What a joke.

-- D.S.

17 comments:

Mega said...

"Best lineup ever"? The only people throwing that crap around was the media.

I'm still wondering if Kurt will come back and say the better team lost.

John Paul Manahan said...

torre: big no.

cashman: maybe

a-rod: the BIG scapegoat...

the question is...

who'll want him.

if he is traded, then who'll fill the gap at 3rd... i believe there is none coming from the minors.

John Paul Manahan said...

and yes.

the tigers are the new white sox.

Maher said...

Pitching > Offense.

Statistically the Yankees did have a much better offense / lineup than the Tigers this season.

They scored 100+ more runs, as a team hit 10 points higher than Detroit, OBS was 34 points higher, and if you want to be all Moneyball, the Yanks OPS was .824, to Detroit's .777

In the end, the better TEAM won, and as Yankee fan I hope that they don't trade A-Rod, and realize the problem is what it has been since 2002...having overpaid pitchers who don't produce.

Pavano, Johnson, Wright are all to blame for this season. A staff of young arms who didn't know they were supposed to lose beat them straight up. Throw in Rogers having the best performance of his career, and my NY hat is off to Leyland's club.

Only thing negative I have to say about this team is, DET is celebrating like they won the WS, not the ALDS.

Congrats to Detroit and their fans.

John Paul Manahan said...

ah yes... pitching...

will zito be the Boss' next target? maybe the D-Train...

how bout middle relief and set-up?

only sure thing is mariano (although he is getting there in age).

Maher said...

supposedly our savior is down on the farm...

Kover said...

I haven't paid much attention to all the A-Rod griping, and always figured the percentages would right themselves eventually. But after watching that performance, I'm thinking: not so much. He really looked lost out there. I'm officially calling it a pattern and not just an anomaly.

Meanwhile, the playoff trend of late seems to be pitchers that step up come playoff time--guys that have the stuff but not the regular season results to be dominant and then put it all together on the big stage. Exhibit A: Josh Beckett. Exhibit B: A bunch of the White Sox pitchers. It's further proof of the old wisdom that pitching trumps all come October. But it also makes the playoffs pretty unpredicatble these days. The winning team is the one that catches pitcching lightning in a bottle. (And certianly not the one that didn't have much pitching to begin with--the Yankees).

ToddTheJackass said...

Umm... Kover, Kenny Rogers and Jeremy Bonderman had really good seasons (until September).

Still, it's not like the guys came out of nowhere... they were part of the best statistical rotation in the Majors.

Hooray, the Yankees lost! The Yankees lost!

Oooh, that never gets old.

Maher said...

so if the yankees suck, how is it a great accomplishment that the tigers won? you should pull a lou holtz and say that your tigers just beat the 2nd best team in the game.

Cashman gone? Doubt it, just signed a contract extension. Torre might be gone, but he has 1 year left and I don't think you fire a guy who probably had his best season as manager. Keep in mind that Swindal runs the show now, not George.

Show me a team that can lose this production from the lineup for the whole season

.290 34 123
.305 25 116

and still win their division.

Not to mention 8 mil per sitting on the DL instead of starting every 5th day.

if they can get Sheff down to 10 mil and he plays first, i wouldn't be suprised to see him back.

trade a-rod for pitching, and I won't be happy, but I can live with it.

Unit is old, so is Moose for 17.5 next year.

The Yanks need to get younger, not ditch the front office and manager.

john (east lansing, mi) said...

Nothing insightful to say, just want to brag:

Kenny sprayed me with that first bottle of champagne.

It tasted so good.

Let's Go Tigers!

iamunstoppable said...

i think the great state of michigan has a collective chubby.

best. celebration. ever.

Russell said...

“Greatest Lineup of All Time” stats for the series:

J. Damon – 4 for 17 (.235)
D. Jeter – 8 for 16 (.500)
H. Matsui – 4 for 16 (.250)
B. Abreu – 5 for 15 (.333)
R. Cano – 2 for 15 (.133)
A. Rodriguez – 1 for 14 (.071)
J. Posada – 7 for 14 (.500)
J. Giambi – 1 for 8 (.125)
G. Sheffield – 1 for 12 (.083)
B. Williams – 0 for 3 (.000)
M. Cabrera – 0 for 3 (.000)
A. Philips – 0 for 1 (.000)

Josh said...

@ Chris Maher...

Ummm, that about Tennessee again.

That just happened.

Badass Of The Year said...

Waaaaaaaaaahooooooooo!!!! Go Mets!!!

Liam said...

Just reported that good ol Lou Pinella is going to be the next Yankees coach.

This loss was further more embarassing because of the talk that this was the best lineup ever and all that money they spent on it.

A-Rod will definitely not be a Yankee next season but who will want him and give up probably young pitching prospects?

Benny
thebestsportsblog.com

Maher said...

if they can Torre, it is the king of all overreactions.

hopefully this is the media going out of control again...remember last week when a depressed TO tried to kill himself?

A-Rod has a no-trade clause. If he says that he wants to stay and means it...they are stuck with the best player in baseball.

Now I have to decide if I want the Tigers to go all the way, or get bounced by the A's.

Kurt said...

Hey Dan Mega, the better team THIS SERIES won, but the better team overall didnt. Gotta give Detroit credit for putting two great pitching performances together for games 3 and 4. The Yankees should of put the series away in game 2 against Verlander when they had the chance.

As for changes that will be made, Torre is as good as gone, A-rod who knows and Cashman isn't going anywhere.